More Fireworks with suggestions

[Digidave]

I really like to have colors pop off the screen. So when I did my post work on these shots I found myself adding a few things to all of them.

1) Saturation - Self explanatory. Have to be careful with this one, you can go to far.
2) Contrast - Gives the trails a little more definition & darkens the surrounding sky.
3) Color boost - Little more pop. Like Saturation, you have to be careful with this one, you can go to far.
4) Cloning - Cloned out some of the residual smoke & some little flairs that didn't add to the beauty. Hey, what can I say! I'm a little anal.
5) Crop - Who doesn't!?

Let me know what you think. Did I go to far with some of these? Feel free to try out some of my suggestions & post them here. I'm curious to know what people think.

[leonaashlee]

Amazing colors...good work

[teedlepeep]

Personally, I do NOT think you went to far at all. I like the way they look and I like not having all the smoke and extra crud in the shot. Can't wait til tonight to go try my luck at this. Ours were postponed due to the never ending rain around here.

Also, thanks for the notes on what you did. I KNOW I will be referring back to this

[mstark70]

I think these are fabulous! You did an awesome job both in capturing them and in editing them. I love the bold vibrant colors! Really fabulous job!

[Digidave]

You did an awesome job both in capturing them and in editing them.

Speaking of which, capturing isn't as easy as it sounds. That's why cropping is a major factor.

1) Set up early & set your focus to manual. You can use the little infinity symbol on your lens but I found it easier to manually focus on a tree line that was across the lake. I was taking sunset shots & just tried to make the clouds & tree line appear to be in focus. These old eyes can be deceiving.
2) Tripod, Tripod, Tripod!! Can't say it enough.
3) Bulb mode. I haven't even looked at the EXIF to see what my exposure times were. I put the camera in "Bulb" mode & used a wired shutter release & just held it open until it felt right. Lot of trial & error with that one.
4) Turn off in-camera noise reduction. Learned that one the hard way!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments.

teedlepeep, good luck tonight & have fun! That's the main thing.

Just checked. Exposure times were between 4 seconds & 8 seconds.

[teedlepeep]

Originally Posted by Digidave

Speaking of which, capturing isn't as easy as it sounds. That's why cropping is a major factor.

1) Set up early & set your focus to manual. You can use the little infinity symbol on your lens but I found it easier to manually focus on a tree line that was across the lake. I was taking sunset shots & just tried to make the clouds & tree line appear to be in focus. These old eyes can be deceiving.
2) Tripod, Tripod, Tripod!! Can't say it enough.
3) Bulb mode. I haven't even looked at the EXIF to see what my exposure times were. I put the camera in "Bulb" mode & used a wired shutter release & just held it open until it felt right. Lot of trial & error with that one.
4) Turn off in-camera noise reduction. Learned that one the hard way!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments.

teedlepeep, good luck tonight & have fun! That's the main thing.

Just checked. Exposure times were between 4 seconds & 8 seconds.

I will have to post some later ... but one more thing to keep in mind use a wider angle lens. I brought my 70 - 300 which was great for getting the full moon shots but I left all my other lenses at home so my bag would be lighter. We were so close that the shots were not as good as they could have been.

[shmelly]

Both beautiful and amazing and the extra PP adds a lot to the professional look of the photos.

[plangereis]

Amazing work in post, and nice captures! I can't wait to try shooting the annual international competition here in a few weeks! Thanks for sharing, Dave!

[Digidave]

Originally Posted by plangereis

Amazing work in post, and nice captures! I can't wait to try shooting the annual international competition here in a few weeks! Thanks for sharing, Dave!

They have a competition for fireworks!? That would be a photographers dream! Can't wait to see the shots.

Both beautiful and amazing and the extra PP adds a lot to the professional look of the photos.

Thanks Shmelly!

[toyvlle]

WOW ! These are absolutely fantastic !! Excellent job.